Madden lifts Devils past Rangers

Apr 14, 2008 - 3:42 AM

By Larry Fleisher
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) - When John Madden threw the puck in front of
the net, he was hoping a teammate would be open for to take his
pass. The pass never happened but it turned into a huge break
and brought the New Jersey Devils back into the Eastern
Conference quarterfinals.

Madden scored the game-winning goal just over six minutes into
overtime to fuel the fourth-seeded Devils to a 4-3 triumph over
the fifth-seeded New York Rangers in Game Three on Sunday night.

The Devils beat the Rangers for the second time in 11 meetings
this season and first time in New York. Their other win over
the rivals was a shootout victory a week ago that meant little
in terms of seeding once the game got went beyond regulation.

This one meant a lot more as New Jersey can now tie the series
here in Game Four on Wednesday night instead of facing a sweep
at the hands of the Rangers, who seemingly got key breaks and
bounces in their two wins at the Prudential Center.

"Now it's 2-1 instead of 3-0," Devils coach Brent Sutter said.
"Yet we still just need to take it one game at a time. Tonight
was our biggest game of the year to date. We will enjoy it for
the next 24 hours and start focusing on our next game."

"At the end, we just threw a lot of pucks at him," New Jersey's
Patrik Elias said. "Sometimes you get a lucky bounce and that's
what happened."

This time, it was Madden who got the break and he was not afraid
to admit it.

"I'm not going to lie," Madden said. "It was all luck. I threw
the puck in front of the net hoping Sergei (Brylin) was going
to be there and it hit off their guy's foot and went into the
series.

"It was lucky but we need those breaks to get back into the
series.

The Devils, who have only faced three-games-to-none deficits in
1993 and 2006, climbed back into the series moments after Madden
lost a faceoff to rookie Brandon Dubinsky to the right of
Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. The puck headed to the
corner and Madden retrieved it with the intention of centering
it for Brylin.

"It was a fortuitous bounce but they did what they had to do,"
New York coach Tom Renney said. "They had people going at the
net and we didn't quite have the body position and it was in the
net. That's the way it goes - you make your breaks."

"I won the faceoff there," Dubinsky said. "They got a good jump
on it and it is just one of those things. These things happen.
It was a little unlucky."

Madden's pass never reached Brylin. It deflected off rookie
defenseman Marc Staal's right skate and headed into the net.

"It was great," Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur said. "We
worked really hard and our back was against the wall. We
couldn't afford to get down three-games-to-none and we pulled it
off. It was lucky and we'll take it."

"We talked before the overtime, throw everything at the net, you
never know," New Jersey defenseman Colin White said. "That's
pretty much how the playoffs go every period."

Lundqvist finished with 29 saves and also admitted that the
bounce was a fortunate break for the Devils.

"He threw it front and it hit Marc's skate," Lundqvist said.
"It's kind of hard. He can't really react and it's (tough) for
me to really react. Unfortunately it went under my pads. It
was lucky but it happens."

Brodeur finished with 27 saves and also shook off a blow to the
head when he collided with New York's Ryan Callahan late in
regulation. He picked up his 95th career postseason victory.

Brodeur kept the Rangers off the scoreboard after Dubinsky
scored his second goal of the night just 55 seconds into the
third. Dubinsky also scored New York's first goal while captain
Jaromir Jagr collected three assists and Martin Straka added
two.

Sean Avery had the other goal for the Rangers and has scored in
every game of the series. It appeared like he was going to get
the game-winner for the second straight game but Elias and
Parise struck on the power play 2:23 apart in the second.

The Devils had eight man advantages and capitalized on it in the
second to rally after Avery converted a feed from former Devil
Scott Gomez 6:50 into the period.

Elias forged a 2-2 tie with a wrist shot from the slot with 7:04
remaining. That came during a penalty on New York defenseman
Fedor Tyutin, who was called for closing his hand on the puck.

Parise, who lost two teeth in Game Two, put New Jersey ahead for
the second time when his backhander took a funny bounce and
sailed over Lundqvist, who had been sprawled out in the crease
to attempt a save.

Parise's goal appeared like it was going to be the game-winner
for the Devils, who had scored just twice in the first two games
at the Prudential Center. But Dubinsky drew a roughing penalty
on Elias at the end of the second.

After drawing New York's fifth power play, Dubinsky erased the
deficit by withstanding intense pushing and shoving from
defenseman Bryce Salvador in the crease. Despite Salvador's
best efforts, it was not enough to prevent Dubinsky from tipping
a Straka pass over Martin Brodeur just 55 seconds into the
third.

Brylin opened the scoring just 3:01 into the contest when his
shot that went off Blair Betts' stick was allowed following a
lengthy review to determine whether a distinct kicking motion
took place.

The Rangers tied it late in the first with some good hustle by
Dubinsky, who intercepted a bad clear White before converting
Jagr's pass.